Inking roller for recorders



June 24, 1941. w. FEARS 2,247,081

INKING ROLLER FOR RECORDERS Filed June 28, 1940 I Inventor: William Fear-s,

His Attorney.

Patented June 24, 1941 iii"? 'STTS ATENT FHQ William Fears, Schenectady, N. General Electric Company,

New York Y., assignor to a corporation of Application June 28, 1940, Serial No. 342,990

(01. Ell-67.8)

4. Claims.

My invention relates to inking rollers for recording devices and its object is to provide a trouble-free, inexpensive and reliable inking device particularly ior automatic recorders.

In carrying my invention into effect I provide a roller on which there is stretched an inking ribbon w1th provisions for easily renewing the ribbon without removing the roller from its bearings. Such roller may have a central core and an outer shell, the shell being split into two halves along an axial plane with provisions for securing the shell parts about the core with a one-piece inking ribbon stretched completely around the shell parts and thus held tightly and smoothly on its exterior surface.

The features of my invention which are believed to be novel and patentable will be pointed out in the claims appended hereto. For a better understanding of my invention, reference is made in the following description to the accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 shows an inking roller partially in section embodying my invention; Figs. 2 and 3 are cross-sectional views of one form of my invention, Fig. 3 showing the parts separated for renewing the ribbon and Fig. 2 the parts assembled; Figs. 4 and 5 likewise show assembled and exploded cross-sectional views of a slightly modified arrangement.

The roller comprises a central cylindrical core part Eli having suitable central bearing provisions such as the bearing extension ll adapted to fit into stationary bearing supports of a suitable recorder mechanism, not shown. Surrounding the core part it is a cylindrical shell split into two longitudinal parts I2 and I3. When the parts are assembled as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 4, the two halves of the shell are secured on the core by screws M and H5 at either end of the roller. These screws extend through the assembled parts holding them firmly together, the head of the screws fitting into recesses in one shell half and the threaded end engaging a threaded hole in the other shell half and extending through the center of the core part.

There is sufficient clearance between the core ill and the shell parts, when assembled, to permit the inked ribbon it to be contained between them, the ribbon being wrapped partially or completely about the core part and extending between the upper edges of the shell parts at I8, double thickness, and then wrapped about the shell parts.

In Figs. 2 and 3 the inked ribbon is made in the form of an endless belt It of just sufiicient length to be stretched tight when assembled as shown in Fig. 3. The manner of assembly is indicated in Fig. 2. As the parts are moved from the position of Fig. 3 to that of Fig. 2, there is a tensioning of the ribbon. If the belt ribbon I6 is made with a seam, the seam will preferably be positioned at point H or at some point along the core iii surface so that when assembled. as in Fig. 3 the seam will not come on the outside surface. Thus the outer surface of the completed inking roller is smooth and the ribbon is stretched tight thereon without Wrinkles and in a manner to prevent shifting or working loose. The shell parts should be of sufiicient length with respect to the width of the inking ribbon that the screws i l and I5 are accessible at the edges of the ribbon as shown when the assembly is completed. The corners at the inner and outer shell edges at slit is should be slightly rounded to prevent cutting of the ribbon but the outer corners should remain sufficiently sharp to prevent making an objectionable depression in the outer surface along the slit at IS. The core and shell parts may be made of any suitable material such for example as nickel plated brass and the inking ribbon may be of any suitable material saturated or coated with a good quality marking ink. Typewriter ribbon material is satisfactory.

The arrangement of Figs. 4 and 5 differs from Fig. 2 in that the inking ribbon IQ of Figs. 4 and 5 is not in belt form but in a one piece sheet form with its ends fastened at points 20 to the facing surfaces of the two shell parts as by several small pins. The ribbon ends could also be similarly fastened to the core.

It will be evident that the inking ribbon is smoothly and firmly held in place but can very readily be changed for renewal purposes. All that is required for renewing the ribbon is the taking out of the two screws i l and i5, renewing the ribbon and reassembling. This does not require that the core part It be removed from bearing supports in which it may be positioned. In the form shown in Figs. 2 and 3 the ribbon may be turned over and moved along to expose the unused part within the shell where economy in the ribbon material is important. The ribbon of Figs. 4 and 5 can also be turned over but it can not be moved along. The invention also contemplates the use of inking ribbons where only the exposed part is saturated with ink and where the unused portion within the shell is not inked.

I have found that the use of my inking roller eliminates a considerable amount of trouble which was due to wrinkling and misplacement of the inking ribbons heretofore used on certain forms of automatic recorders.

It will be noted that the assembled roller remains perfectly round and its surface concentric with its axis of rotation. The roller may thus form a printing platen which is easily rotated by movement of a recording sheet thereover. Two or more inking ribbons of different colors may be assembled side by side on the roller without any diificulty, for the purpose of providing different colored records over the width of a record sheet.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. An inking roller comprising a cylindrical core part and cylindrical shell part, the latter being split longitudinally into two sections, a onepiece inking ribbon interposed between the core and shell parts and wrapped around the shell part and means for removably securing the shell sections together on said core part.

2. An inking roller comprising a cylindrical core part, a cylindrical shell part split longitudinally into two sections and of such internal dimentions as to fit over said core part with a small clearance, a one-piece inking ribbon interposed between the core and shell parts and between at least one pair of the facing surfaces of the two sections of the shell part and wrapped about the shell part and means exposed at the ends of said shell for removably securing said shell on said core part.

3. An inking roller comprising a cylindrical core part having bearing means for rotatively supporting it on its axis, a cylindrical shell part split longitudinally into two halves, means for removably securing the latter on the core part, a one-piece inking ribbon wrapped around said core part Within said shell part, extending outwardly between adjacent facing surfaces of the shell halves and wrapped tightly about the shell part, said shell part having such dimensions as to fit. closely about the core part and ribbon thereon, and to present a circular substantially smooth exterior surface concentric with the core part axis.

4. An inking roller comprising a cylinder made up of a core partand a shell part, the latter being split longitudinally into two sections, means for removably securing the shell part sections on the core part, a belt of inking ribbon of such length as to be stretched snugly about the core part and about the shell part with a double thickness interposed between one pair of adjacent faces of the shell sections when the parts are assembled, the dimensions of said shell part being such as to snugly grip the ribbon between the shell and core parts and to present a substantially unbroken cylindrical outer surface support for the ribbon thereon.

WILLIAM FEARS. 

